Women's Classic Literature Enthusiasts discussion

This thread is for any type of comments, including "spoilers." If you haven't finished the book, please be "very careful" before perusing this thread.

https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-...

This was interesting in connecting with the book.

I couldn't see the link. It times out. I don't know if it is my computer or problems with the link.

I can check tonight and see if it works on my computer at home. It seemed to work alright on my work computer.

Charlene wrote: "https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-...

This was interesting in connecting with the book."

I had never heard of a clipping service before this story.

The kid who wouldn't stop nursing was both sad and funny.

I finally got the link to work. Thanks for sending it.

This book is very close to my heart. I liked all the characters especially Katie Nolan’s , one of the best mothers in literature. In a way this book celebrates womanhood.

Interesting article—thanks! I’m old enough to remember clipping services, but it was entertaining to (virtually) see one in action.

I do not think they had clipping services where I lived growing up - too small. However, as a younger adult, I would see newspaper clippings on the bulletin board about members at the YMCA. So not exactly the same, but someone there was looking to highlight news of members. Kind of a very scaled down version.

A whole industry eliminated by the Internet!

When I read books like this, I’m always struck by how desperate and terrifying life was for so many people before the USA had a social safety net. Still not easy by any means, but at least we now live in a society that recognizes some level of responsibility to sustain survival for the poor, however minimally.

Abigail wrote: "A whole industry eliminated by the Internet!

When I read books like this, I’m always struck by how desperate and terrifying life was for so many people before the USA had a social safety net. Stil..."

And some of it so regional. Early on in the pandemic the news showed lines of cars of people looking for food baskets. In our community, the public school made sack lunch and breakfast everyday for ANYONE 18 and under. They had designated pick up spots and they hired bus drivers for a lunch mobile type thing. They picked up the meals at the high school and went to designated corners Monday - Friday. Anyone could pick up the 2 meals daily. Even if they went to Catholic school, or were too young for school. Anyone with children could get 10 meals a week, including milk, per child for free. Now that did not completely solve all food problems, but it certainly put a big dent in the need.

I was very moved by those efforts! Also by the dilemma of rural poor people as small food banks closed and they couldn’t afford to drive long distances to look for alternatives. Our system is far from perfect these days but it beats having no safety net at all.

Abigail wrote: "I was very moved by those efforts! Also by the dilemma of rural poor people as small food banks closed and they couldn’t afford to drive long distances to look for alternatives. Our system is far f..."

And some people in rural communities do not drive, or have no car, or share one car with a spouse so they may not have access to a vehicle at certain times of the day.

I did not read this book as a young person, so when I finally got to it a couple of years ago, it didn’t have cast over it the haze of youthful emotional connection to the main character. I still liked it and thought it an extraordinary portrait of a time and place, but I did think a lot of the characters were stereotypes, and some of them felt dragged in to make a point. Here’s the review I wrote at the time: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

I read it several years ago and I just found it incredibly sad. Only one kid could go to school and it is ALWAYS the boy. That poverty screws up everything, especially when combined with alcohol.

Even without poverty being in question, that favoring of a boy’s education over a girl’s lasted well into the twentieth century. My grandmother, who had the care of me and my brother, sent him away to a tony boarding school (where he got expelled) but local schools were good enough for me. After I got into a good college, she only agreed to pay for it because she thought it would give me a chance to find a rich husband, and when I didn’t she stopped me from going to grad school. When I worked at a university, as late as the 1980s there were professors who didn’t want female students in their graduate seminars because it was a waste of time—“those women will only end up getting married and having kids, they’ll never have an academic career.”

Or the Waltons. Only the oldest boy got to go to college. My mother thought the primary reason for going to college was to find a husband. At most, you might have to work a couple of years.

It is interesting that Betty Smith heritage was German. Even though it is autobiographical, she made the main character Irish heritage as she was writing in the 1940s during the war.